Being clear-eyed and full-hearted doesn’t mean being passive, weak, or silent.
It means resisting every effort to supplant our autonomy of mind with symbols of identity, no matter the source.
Extreme language during election season isn’t anything new.
But this time it really is different. Our response must be different, too.
The question is not whether Trump will accept the election result if he loses. He won’t.
The question is whether a Missionary with actual power will join him.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m thoroughly despondent about the calcification, mendacity, and venal corruption that I think four years of Clinton™ will impose. Trump, on the other hand … I think he breaks us. Maybe he already has. He breaks us because he transforms every game we play as a country — from our domestic social games to our international security games — from a Coordination Game to a Competition Game.
The outcomes of NFL games are inordinately influenced by officials relative to other sports. This is not new. The Narrative environment faced by the NFL in 2021, however, IS new.
I’m not sure they’re ready for it.
When a famous person shakes his or her finger at you, they’re not telling you a fact.
They’re telling you how to think about a fact.
Called It - Election Edition
Men of God in the City of Man is a nine part series about a narrative virus that infected the charismatic and Pentecostal churches in the United States. It isn't a story about Christian Nationalism. It isn't a story about January 6th. It isn't a story about why people voted for Trump. It is a story about a story. It is a story about the language that created a self-sustaining movement defined by its unwavering belief in a fundamentally corrupt electoral system.
Recent Notes
Pricing Power (pt. 2) – Intellectual Property
Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries … the pricing power found in intellectual property. It’s not as easy as it looks.
The Zeitgeist | 2.6.2019
In today’s edition, it’s captain obvious takes on the ECB, is there anything active funds CAN do?, more Brexit and dead-cat bounces.
All Along the Watchtower
Trust in media is being debased from without and within. The Clear Eyed, Full-Hearted answer? Don’t pick and choose. Set yourself against both threats.
The Zeitgeist | 2.5.2019
In which we hear the term, ‘megadeal hunger’, contemplate a Larry Fink v. Ken Fisher celebrity steel cage match, and boggle at the unironic advocacy of regulation as the solution for lack of trust in blockchain applications.
The Zeitgeist | 2.4.2019
The near-term focus of financial markets coverage seems squarely on M&A in the U.S. Elsewhere, Lord Fink (!) roasts Corbyn and Australian housing has become a media obsession.
In the News | Week of 2.4.2019
In which we see a week full of insurance earnings, continued trade concerns, ‘warming to nuclear’ and a humble request to stop naming things “Exelon.”
Arbitrary Power
There is a paradox – only it isn’t really a paradox – in that to act boldly on and hold loosely to our beliefs requires us to design processes which are subject to an almost opposite standard.
The Zeitgeist | 2.1.2019
Amazon ‘buts’, all sorts of January 1987 comparisons, a grab bag of central banking and politics, and a notable omission from your Brexit Bunker.
Speak Now
We no longer have real discussions about critical civic issues in part because we’ve stopped calling things by their proper name. Our lack of nuance causes those conversations to degrade into predictable, exhausting patterns. Let’s figure this out before it’s too late.
The Zeitgeist | 1.31.2019
A big day for the Green New Deal, tax policy old and new, a solution for morale problems at Palantir and a solution for god only knows at Davos.
Uttin’ On the Itz!
Watching Jay Powell’s press conference today, it hit me – THIS HAS ALL HAPPENED BEFORE.
Back in September, 2013 to be precise, when Ben Bernanke told us that QE was not going to roll off as expected, that “data dependent” meant “market dependent”, and the Fed was a prisoner of the White House and Wall Street.
You are here. Again.
The Zeitgeist | 1.30.2019
Today’s Zeitgeist has a bit of private markets, Boeing and Apple, conspiracies and tax avoidance.
The Zeitgeist | 1.29.2019
Food and retailing are top of mind (and…bullish?), trade continues to dominate content and commentary, and a hero rides in to protect the Lu Ann Platter.
The Road to Tannu Tuva, Pt. 2
The next stops in our discovery of the process of discovery? A town of 1,282 people and the mind of a German physicist named Arnold Sommerfeld.
You and Me (But Mostly Me)
Like it or not, the 2020 election season has begun. But I’ve got good news for you: someone has The Answer for the political center, and he’d very much like to discuss it with you.
In the News | Week of 1.28.2019
Tech, telecom, pharma and defense report. Plus some…er…highlights, from Davos.
The Zeitgeist | 1.28.2019
Oil falls, gas bounces, banks are buoyed. It’s apparently a weird gravity metaphor grab-bag on a Monday Zeitgeist.
Pricing Power (Pt. 1)
When an inflation regime shifts, the only question that really matters for your investments and your business model is this: do you have pricing power?
Pt. 1 of a three-fer Brief series … why the worst place to be in any services industry is on the product side.
The Zeitgeist | 1.25.2019
Billionaire penthouses, vertical integration in cannabis, non-musical music power, and a shifting tone in tech.
Mailbag!
Time to resurrect an old Epsilon Theory feature and make it a regular thing. Because the ET pack has a voice that’s worth hearing.